Усилители для наушников — Ampsandsound Kenzie Reimagined

The Kenzie Reimagined is a valve headphone amplifier from ampsandsound, the Southern California workshop of designer Justin Weber. The original Kenzie is among the oldest designs in the catalogue and is based on the darling circuit, and this version moves that topology onto a modern chassis with new output transformers and more output options. It made its debut at AXPONA 2026 and is priced at USD 6,000. The company points to a lower noise floor, more output power and a wider bandwidth than the earlier model. The first Kenzie, now called Kenzie OG, also led to a Kenzie Integrated version with a 100 ohm headphone jack, speaker binding posts and one watt per channel for loudspeakers of 98 dB or more.

Key specs that matter

Rated output is 750 mW, at which point total harmonic distortion is 0.7% and THD plus noise 0.8%. Residual noise is 30 microvolts. Gain measures 18 dB with a 12AX7 fitted in the input position. The frequency response runs from 7 Hz to 35 kHz at the -3 dB points. Input impedance is 10k ohms through an Alps potentiometer. The chassis is 305 mm wide, 254 mm deep and 152 mm tall.

Engineering and use context

A 5751 or 12AX7 triode handles the input stage, and the output stage uses a pair of 1626 or VT-137 tubes, a Second World War type originally built as a transmitter tube for radar installations. The circuit runs without global feedback. Cathode bias sets the operating point automatically, so owners can swap tubes without any bias adjustment. Custom output transformers are wound by hand in the USA, parts are sourced in the USA, and each unit is assembled by hand in Southern California. The rear and front panels carry five kinds of output - a Low-Z 6.35 mm jack, a Hi-Z 6.35 mm jack, a 32 ohm four-pin XLR, 300 ohm XLR sockets and 8 ohm speaker taps that can be switched off when only headphones are in use.

Pairing

The maker specifies the Low-Z jack for headphones up to 200 ohms and advises the Hi-Z jack for anything above that. The balanced side follows the same logic, with the four-pin XLR tap for low impedance headphones and the XLR tap for high impedance models. A source line output of 520 mV drives the amplifier to full power. With the speaker taps active, suitable loudspeakers can be connected directly.

Alternatives

The ampsandsound LeeLoo Reimagined is another valve headphone amplifier in the current range, listed at the same price.